Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

Lead Ship,Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst pictured c1907.

It's too bad that more pictures of these two big cruisers haven't surfaced......... Seem to be only a few well known shots....... DFO

Lead Ship,Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst seen at Qindao in 1909.
Built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906. She was the lead ship of her Class, which included SMS Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding Roon Class.
Scharnhorst served briefly with the High Seas Fleet in Germany in 1908, though most of this time was spent conducting sea trials. She was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron based in Tsingtao, China, in 1909. After arriving, she replaced the Cruiser Fürst Bismarck as the squadron flagship, a position she would hold for the rest of her career. Over the next five years, she went on several tours of various Asian ports to show the flag for Germany. She frequently carried the squadron commanders to meet with Asian heads of state and was present in Japan for the coronation of the Taishō Emperor in 1912.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, accompanied by three Light Cruisers and several Colliers, sailed across the Pacific Ocean, arriving off the southern coast of South America. On November 1st 1914, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron encountered and overpowered a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel. The defeat prompted the British Admiralty to dispatch two Battlecruisers to hunt down and destroy Spee's squadron, accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on December 8th 1914.

Lead Ship,Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst pictured c1908.She was built at Blohm & Voss Shipyards,Hamburg in 1906.She served briefly with the High Seas Fleet in 1908, though most of this time was spent conducting sea trials. She was assigned to the German East Asian Squadron based in Tsingtao, China, in 1909. After arriving, she replaced the Cruiser SMS Furst Bismarck as the squadron flagship, a position she would hold for the rest of her career. Over the next five years, she went on several tours of various Asian ports to show the flag for Germany. She frequently carried the squadron commanders to meet Asian heads of state and was present in Japan for the coronation of the Taisho Emperor in 1912.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, accompanied by three Light Cruisers and several Colliers, sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the southern coast of South America. On November 1st 1914, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron encountered and overpowered a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel. The defeat prompted the Admiralty to dispatch two Battle Cruisers to hunt down and destroy the German squadron, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on December 8th 1914. The discovery of her wreck was announced in December 2019 by Mensun Bound.

A picture reportedly taken of SCHARNHORST in Valparaiso 3 days after the Coronel Battle........ DFO

Assigned to the German Navy's East Asia Squadron, Scharnhorst Class Armoured Cruiser SMS Gneisenau pictured off Alexandria as she conducts torpedo drills on her way to Tsingtau. She was sunk, during the Battle of the Falkland Islands on December 8th 1914 with the loss of 598 of her crew.

Lead Ship, Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst pictured at Tsingtao Dockyard in 1912.